A memorial service is to be held on Teesside for a woman who devoted her life to the region.

Eileen Jackson was a councillor, magistrate and school governor during four decades of public service.

She was elected to Stockton Council as a Conservative representing the Norton North ward in 1954, and was deputy leader of her party group for more than 20 years.

She also served as deputy leader of Teesside Borough Council from 1967 to 1972. In 1967, she was appointed Alderman of Teesside County Borough.

In 1986 she received an MBE for her services to political and public life. A further honour came when she was given the Freedom of the Borough of Stockton in 1991. She was the first Tory to receive the accolade since former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

Mrs Jackson also served as a magistrate on the Stockton Bench, and later the Teesside Bench, of which she was deputy chairman from 1977 to 1985.

She worked as a school governor, as president of the Norton Junction Townswomen's Guild, and was on the committee of the National Council of Women.

After retiring as a councillor, Mrs Jackson - who came to the region when her husband Kenneth began work at ICI in Billingham - moved to be near her family in Hampshire, where she died in November, aged 86.

Her son-in-law, Bruce Bangert, said: "You name it on Teesside, she did it.

"She knew a lot of people in the region, and I would imagine there must be a lot of people who would like to pay their respects to her."

The service will be at 11.30am on Friday, January 12, at St Mary's Church, The Green, Norton.